A self-priming centrifugal pump can be used in various areas such as agricultural irrigation, urban greening, and building water-supply. In order to simulate the gas-water two-phase flow in the self-priming process of a self-priming centrifugal pump, the unsteady numerical calculation of a typical self-priming centrifugal pump was performed using the ANSYS Computational Fluid X (ANSYS CFX) software. It was found that the whole self-priming process of a self-priming pump can be divided into three stages: the initial self-priming stage, the middle self-priming stage, and the final self-priming stage. Moreover, the self-priming time of the initial and final self-priming stages accounts for a small percentage of the whole self-priming process, while the middle self-priming stage is the main stage in the self-priming process and further determines the length of the self-priming time.

The numerical method on a double-channel sewage pump was studied, while the corresponding experimental result was also provided. On this basis, the influence of wall roughness on the pump performance was deeply studied. The results showed that there was a critical value of wall roughness. When the wall roughness was less than the critical value, it had a great influence on the pump performance, including the head, efficiency, and shaft power. As the wall roughness increased, the head and efficiency were continuously reduced, while the shaft power was continuously increased. Otherwise, the opposite was true. The effect of wall roughness on the head and hydraulic loss power was much smaller than that on the efficiency and disk friction loss power, respectively. With the increase of wall roughness, mechanical efficiency and hydraulic efficiency reduced constantly, leading to the decrement of the total efficiency. With the increase of flow rate, the effect of wall roughness on the head and efficiency gradually increased, while the influence on the leakage continuously reduced. The influence of the flow-through component roughness on the pump performance was interactive.

As an important over-current component of the waterjet propulsion system, the main function of a nozzle is to transform the mechanical energy of the propulsion pump into the kinetic energy of the water and eject the water flow to obtain thrust. In this study, the nozzle with different geometry and parameters was simulated based on computational fluid dynamics simulation and experiment. Numerical results show a good agreement with experimental results. The results show that the nozzle with a circular shape outlet shrinks evenly. Under the designed flow rate condition, the velocity uniformity of the circular nozzle is 0.26% and 0.34% higher than that of the elliptical nozzle and the rounded rectangle nozzle, respectively. The pump efficiency of the circular nozzle is 0.31% and 0.14% higher than that of the others. The pressure recovery and hydraulic loss of the circular nozzle are superior. The hydraulic characteristics of the propulsion pump and waterjet propulsion system are optimal when the nozzle area is 30% times the outlet area of the inlet duct. Thus, the shaft power, head, thrust, and system efficiency of the propulsion pump and waterjet propulsion system are maximized. The system efficiency curve decreases rapidly when the outlet area exceeds 30% times the outlet area of the inlet duct. The transition curve forms greatly affect thrust and system efficiency. The transition of the linear contraction shows improved uniformity, and the hydraulic loss is reduced. Furthermore, the hydraulic performance of the nozzle with a linear contraction transition is better than that of others.

The generation of stall conditions will directly affect the hydraulic and energy characteristics of the water jet propulsion pump. Utilizing the entropy generation theory, this study conducts a comparative analysis of the entropy generation loss distribution across each water jet propulsion pump device component under varying flow conditions. The investigation delineates the entropy generation loss variation with changes in the flow rate, revealing that the impeller and the inlet duct emerge as the primary contributors to entropy generation loss in the system. Through a comparative analysis of the flow patterns and entropy generation loss rate distribution under design conditions and two stall conditions for the inlet duct and impeller section, this study elucidates the entropy generation loss distribution characteristics in these sections. The investigation aims to provide insights into the factors contributing to the occurrence of high entropy generation areas. Additionally, the Liutex Omega vortex identification method is employed in this study to elucidate the correlation between vortex structure and the entropy generation loss rate distribution under diverse operating conditions. This approach further substantiates the underlying reasons for the observed entropy generation loss rate distribution.